


A Slice of Life

by usermechanics



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Baking, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22232878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usermechanics/pseuds/usermechanics
Summary: Outside of music, Nico found solace in baking bread. Years later, and things haven't changed, except for finding a girlfriend who, too, finds solace in baking.
Relationships: Minami Kotori/Yazawa Nico
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	A Slice of Life

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes, a writer with a streak of insanely-long smuts needs to post a drabble once in awhile. I'm trying to get back into writing and sometimes doing Big Works gets stressful, so I'm just writing something for the sake of writing something.

Years ago, Nico learned how to bake bread.

She never quite remembered why she decided to learn how to do it. She knew that Honoka definitely had something to do with it--something that Honoka loved that much  _ had _ to be good. Not like she wanted to emulate Honoka, who was more captivating an idol or anything like that--nobody could beat Nico at that. Just, sometimes, idols need to try things out that are new and exciting. She didn’t really like it much, but Cotaro, Cocoa, and Cocoro all certainly did.

In her time when she baked for her siblings, she learned to appreciate it more, far beyond the convenience of not having to go to the store. Kneading the bread let her mind wander, let her think about things other than the stressors of life and wondering if she had a backup plan in case the idol gig didn’t work, and even then what kinds of things were in the future when that career ended. As much as the idols of Akihabara say otherwise, nobody can be seventeen forever, and even in her more lurid idol fantasies she kept in mind that she would, too, grow old, and she needed other things in her life for that time.

The smell of freshly baked bread, however, never grew old. In fact, the more she worked on it, the more she improved her recipe and the more their place smelled of bread. That could linger for as long as she wanted it to, as long as she made bread for herself. It was one of the few things that she carried throughout college, that and her love of music, but she needed some sort of hobby for herself. Super-idols needed things to do besides look pretty on stage. Swimsuits were definitely out of the question, but she definitely looked cuter in an apron anyway; at least, wearing one didn’t make her feel weird and childish.

The more she did it, the more she grew comfortable with it. She fondly remembered a day where she decided to drop in on Otonokizaka’s Idol Research Club; there was no better a representative from µ’s to drop by. Even though she did  _ not _ appreciate what Honoka had to say about how she was a better baker than an idol, she liked how Honoka said that her bread was better than that at the store. She couldn’t stay mad about the idol comments; that bread was just as special to her as her singing and dancing. She could definitely provide bread to her VIP fans after every concert.

Even as time went on and Nico realized that her idol dreams were fleeting--a few mild successes on some singles didn’t hurt--at best, bread stayed special to her. Even though it was a bit annoying that she didn’t get to be on those big stages as much as she wanted to when she made her bread, it gave her more reasons to knead her dough. It was a scent that reminded her of high school, of her youth and innocence, a smell that almost coincided too well with her idol image. And, of course, she was one of the cutest centerfolds who didn’t have to resort to a swimsuit; even though her envy of gravure idols also went into the kneading and baking.

Even as her time in the limelight faded and her youngest of young adult years had ended, bread had found its way in her life as a mainstay in some way or another. Or, at the very least, baking did.

It probably wasn’t coincidental that Nico found Kotori during her idol years. A prodigious fashionista hellbent on making costumes, her µ’s portfolio were images made of gold to her interviewers, and Nico already had her as a contact. Yet she had expected most of her time to be with her choreographers or her composers or her coaches, and not with Kotori. Alas, sometimes fate deals a strange hand and when Kotori said that she wanted Nico as a roommate to cut costs she wasn’t going to say no. All she needed was a place to sleep, an oven, and all her ingredients for baking bread.

Truly, it had been a weird history of her with her bread, something that she never thought she’d do but never wanted to stop doing. It was weird to think about when she was doing errands alone, even without a heavy bag of flour in her groceries slowing her down, but at least there wasn’t any store-bought bread that she had to deal with. She was almost thankful for that, considering how the only indications of it being winter were the intense cold and early darkness. Maybe that’s why bread was on her mind: it was warm and fluffy.

“I’m home!” Nico spoke as she opened the door to her apartment, overcome by the smell of something baking. It certainly wasn’t bread; it was quite a bit sweeter. Not like she needed to guess what was going on; even if the smell of baking wasn’t obvious to her, the sight of Kotori wearing one of her favorite aprons and her hair in a ponytail made it all the more clear what was going on.

“Welcome back, Nico-chan!” Kotori chirped, turning to look at Nico. “I hope you don’t mind me using your apron!”

“I-uh-I’m fine with it,” Nico remarked, “but make sure to ask me next time, okay?”

“Sure thing! They’re almost done. I thought you were coming home a bit later and I wanted to surprise you with something!”

Kotori’s portfolio in fashion easily got her into her Parisian dream college. And, much like Nico, she was no stranger to baking. It must have been something about living in France that did that to her. However, if Nico was going to complain about anything about baking, it was that Kotori did it better than she did, and even then she couldn’t complain about it. Why on Earth would Nico complain about free sweets?

_ Ding! _

“Oh! My filling’s done! Nico-chan, can you get the cream filling out of the fridge while I get these bonbons out of the oven?”

Nico nodded before heading towards the fridge and opening it. The cans of drinks and refrigerated meats and veggies were quickly ignored in favor of the piping bag full of what looked like cream filling, and Nico pulled it out. Closing the fridge behind her, she placed the bag on the counter, which Kotori immediately took and brought to her shells.

“Give me a few minutes!” Kotori remarked as she, one by one, filled each of the shells with her filling. Nico watched as each of the shells bloated slightly with filling, and whenever Kotori pulled the bag away, a slight bit of the filling leaked out the entrance. It was a mouth-watering sight knowing that each was going to be an explosion of flavor.

“Um, Kotori, shouldn’t you wait a bit for the bonbons to cool before filling them up?”

“Of course, Nico-chan! The oven wasn’t on and I just had them in there so I knew where they were. They’ve cooled by now.”

That said, Kotori grabbed one of the bonbons and placed it in the palm of her hand before passing it to Nico. “You seem like you’ve had a tough day. You want the first one?”

“How would you know that, Kotori?”

“Nozomi-chan says that you don’t do that well in the winter. Sometimes she calls me to make sure that you’re okay.”

“How’d you keep in contact with her?”

“She sometimes asks me for help with her Halloween costumes. People love fortune tellers on Halloween, and she usually gives me a generous cut of what she earns.”

“I see.” Nico said before taking the bonbon from off Kotori’s hands and plopping it into her mouth. Biting into it, she felt the cream filling spread across her tongue, her eyes watering with its flavor. Perfectly sweet and buttery, this must have been the feeling Honoka felt when she bit into her homemade bread for the first time. The winter blues that were inside her seemed to melt away, and her eyes widened. There was something about it being homemade that made it all the more special; she almost wanted to ask herself why she didn’t consider making homemade sweets.

“Kotori, this is fantastic!” Nico said with an enjoyment she reserved only for telling Kotori about signed contracts and chart placements. “This might be the best bonbon I’ve ever had!”

Kotori, taking that moment of Nico’s vulnerability, went the mile she knew best, wrapping her arms around her. “I’m glad you liked it! I was scared that I forgot how to make them but--”

“I didn’t know you made them! These are sweets worthy of a superidol like Nico Nii! How can I possibly thank you?”

“You don’t need to,” Kotori remarked. “Hearing those words from you and seeing you smile was good enough for me.” She continued before leaning in and giving Nico’s cheek a quick, but chaste, kiss.

“Kotori!!”

“Sorry, Nico-chan! I couldn’t help myself.”

“Well, uh,” Nico darted her eyes around for a moment before seeing the bag of cream, almost empty, but what was in it was enough for what she wanted to do with it. As such, she grabbed it and brought the nozzle to Kotori’s cheek, where she squirted a slight bit of it onto her cheek. All the while, she kept a winning idol smile on her lips to make sure that Kotori knew it was all in good faith.

“Nico-chan!” Kotori cooed.

“Kotori,” Nico remarked with a similar coo, before leaning in and quickly cleaning the splotch of cream off Kotori’s cheek with a kiss. Pulling away from the quickly-heating skin, she made her hands into her trademark signs, giving Kotori a Nico Nico Nii like an idol performance for one.

After all, she did room with Kotori because she did like sweets. Not like the sweets that she baked, though. Well, those too. But, well, it was a surprise to see that Kotori put those two together for her.  Bread was great, but Kotori knew how to make her love it more.

Maybe bread won't be the only thing that makes baking so worthwhile to her anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Got any requests, ideas, or just want to hang out? [Come join my discord](https://discord.gg/YJPVY4K) or follow me on twitter: [@usermechanics](https://twitter.com/usermechanics)


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